1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to technology for providing a security keypad for a handheld terminal through a shift of a keypad and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for providing a security keypad, which are capable of changing the coordinates of some of keys included in a keypad by shifting the central axis of the security keypad.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a rapid increase in the use of mobile devices, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and tablet personal computers (PCs), related applications have been, able to be easily installed and used anywhere through the Internet and open markets. Along with this, the presence of malware or malicious hacking programs disguised as normal applications has also increased, and thus the number of cases where personal information, such as text messages, contact information and location information stored in mobile devices, is leaked is increasing. In particular, if leakage related to financial programs for securities and banking occurs, there is a danger of economic damage because the financial programs deal with important information required for financial transactions, such as personal information, certificates, and passwords. Accordingly, various security measures and methods are provided.
As one of the weak points in the security of financial programs, there is a possibility that a password may be obtained by coordinate hacking. In order to overcome this security problem attributable to coordinate hacking, a method of randomly rearranging the coordinates of all the keys of a keypad is used. In the case of a keypad including a large number of keys, it is difficult for a user to immediately fed a key to be pressed. In general applications currently provided by financial institutions for user convenience provide a QWERTY keypad in which the order of arrangement of keys is maintained in each line of the keypad, but blanks are randomly disposed between the coordinates of the keys. In this case, however, the number of blanks is constant in each line. Accordingly, there is a strong possibility that a password may be leaked through the hacking of several inputs because the keys of a keypad do not considerably deviate from their original locations even when the arrangement of the keys is changed. For this reason, there is a need for a new keypad security method capable of providing both user convenience and the security of personal information in terms of rearrangement of the coordinates of the keys of a keypad.
As a related art, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2007-0010557 discloses a method for preventing keypad hacking.